


Old Soldiers Never Die

by thecookiemomma



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Genre: F/M, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-04
Updated: 2012-07-04
Packaged: 2017-11-09 04:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/451088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecookiemomma/pseuds/thecookiemomma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ender didn't fade away when Peter and Val became too much for him.  He merely got a ride into a different universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Soldiers Never Die

**Author's Note:**

> This came completely out of nowhere. It's strange, and a bit cliche, but I think it works. Post-COTM and 'Wedding'.

After the trip Outside and getting everything settled for his wife and children, Ender realized he was so _tired._ He felt the pull of the extra stress on his body, the sense that he wouldn't have that long to live. He didn't want to hurt Valentine or his family, but had been so long since the Bugger Wars, and he was beginning to feel it, much as the Hive Queen had said. It began to wear on him. He was almost to the point of letting go when he heard an odd sound that drew his attention. Not just _his_ attention, but the attention of his _aiüa_. It was something he'd never heard, nor heard _of_ in three thousand years of life. He turned his head and saw an old blue box shimmering into existence.

 

“Jane,” he asked his 'mind-child's' body, “do you recognize it?”

 

“I don't.” Everybody stopped at that. Jane knew _everything_ , or so they thought. “Huh. There's some sort of golden energy around it, and it's … weird. It's like Lightspeed travel all bundled up into one space. It's emanating from that point.” She pointed to the top of the old blue box, and tilted her head. “Interesting. I think it might be a ship.”

 

Ender snorted. “Well, it looks a little more well-formed than our box ships, doesn't it?”

 

Ella, ever the practical one, snorted, and moved to his side to rest a hand on his tired shoulder. “Well, they get the job done, don't they?” She grinned, and Ender grinned back. Novhina was hiding a smile.

 

Everyone watched as the blue box fully materialized, and the door swung open. “Oh!” Ender thought he recognized the language. It wasn't _Stark_ exactly – it sounded more like the English from his childhood. “Look at you! Humans in space! So brilliant!” Ender thought he sounded like Dink, except not exactly the same. He stepped forward, looked around, noticed things about everyone, seeming to take their measure in seconds, and then stepped closer to Ender. “Oh, my. Yes. Very interesting. You almost lost the battle, didn't you?”

 

His family turned to him with varying degrees of horror on their faces. “I'm old,” he complained. “Besides, you were taking up my attention.” He gestured toward Jane and 'Peter'.

 

“Oh. Someone took you into the creative realm, didn't they? Oh, wow. That's a step we didn't take. We weren't sure of what would happen. Who took you Out, then?”

 

“Hive Queen and Jane,” Ender replied, feeling a kindred spirit with the strangely dressed man.

 

“Hive Queen.” The man tilted his head and nodded, understanding dawning. “And Jane?” He pulled a small, silver instrument from his pocket, and before he could do anything with it, Ender grabbed his wrist and held it tight, drawing the stranger's attention back to himself.

 

“Protective, then.”

 

“She's one of my oldest friends.” Ender injected a little steel into his voice.

 

“She looks so young, but she looks like her...” He pointed to Val. “And you said she was taking all your attention which means your life force is split between the three of you. How could she take you out if she was already...” He nodded toward the hand holding the silver thing. “It's mostly a diagnostic tool. I can do things with it, but I don't – much.” He gazed right into Ender's eyes, and nodded again. “You and I have a few things in common, I think. Let me scan her, scan her only, I promise, and we'll talk. You don't happen to have any Jammy Dodgers, do you?” He turned to look at the women.

 

“I don't even know what those are,” Ella said, clearly being won over as she had been when a young Andrew had stormed into Milagre and their lives.

 

“ _Ravias_.” Jane translated.

 

“Oh. Right. Portuguese. Interesting!”

 

“Grego, go get the man some cookies,” Nova ordered.

 

“Why me, Mama?” Grego whined.

 

“Because I told you to, and because I don't think we'll need a physicist for this part. If he's from somewhere else, we might need our Xenologers and Xenobiologists. If we need you, it'll keep. Now, go.” Novha shook her head, and Ender chuckled.

 

“My youngest,” Ender replied. “Well, of my adopted children, at least.”

 

“And I bet they're all as brilliant as you. Would you let go of my hand, please?”

 

“Oh, right,” Ender chuckled again, and the man ran the instrument over Jane. “Brilliant. Hey, Sexy!” He turned to the blue box, and then caught himself. “I mean...” There was a strange whirr from the blue box that Ender would have classified as a chuckle, if he thought machines could laugh. Then he remembered Jane picking on him constantly at certain points, and realized that, yes, it was a laugh.

 

“She finds it funny, huh?” He looked knowingly at the man, and then at Jane, who grinned stupidly. Clearly, she was still getting used to that body.

 

“Oh, yes. She's had about a millennium to laugh at my stupidity. And my lack of manners. Forgive me. I'm the Doctor.”

 

“Alright, Doctor. I'm Ender.” His family drew in a breath as he introduced himself. “Ender Wiggin.”

 

“No! The Ender Wiggin? Brilliant. Oh, positively brilliant!” He grinned, and leaned in to shake Ender's hand.

 

“Andrew...” Nova clearly objected to his revealing so much about himself.

 

“Trust me, _querida_ ,” Ender murmured, exposing his own heart to the man who'd just shown a similar weakness unintentionally.

 

The Doctor's eyes narrowed slightly as though he saw right through Ender's actions.

 

“Oh, Ender the Xenocide. Brilliant. And you just stopped another one, too, didn't you? Good at that, are you?” Ender gazed at the man, then realized it wasn't hero-worship or derision he was hearing, it was _understanding._ This man knew about it. Experientially.

 

The rest of his crazy little family watched the two men communicate for long minutes without a word. Val seemed to pick up on some of it; she always had, as had Jane, but most of it was spoken almost mind to mind.

 

“You could come along, you know,” the Doctor tossed off casually, though Ender knew it wasn't a casual thing. “Your body is really actually very young, and since I'm not from this universe, it would be ridiculously easy for you to find another _aiüa_ to rope into submission in another universe. It would be the simplest solution, really. Besides, I could use the company of another ….”

 

_Another old soldier who hates war. Another who was used in a plot to kill off a race but hated every minute of it. A peacemaker, defender. A tired, ancient mind who travels for fun, but ends up changing every place he lands._

 

“Yeah, alright. Give me a little while to say goodbye to my family, and yeah... I'll go with you.”


End file.
